Jason Lewis, the actor who played Smith Jerrod opposite Kim Cattrall on Sex and the City, has resurfaced after a three-year absence to reveal he has been quietly living in Costa Rica and writing a nine-book fantasy series.
The 54-year-old shared the news in a video posted to Instagram on 21 May, walking along a beach and telling followers, "After three years, it was time," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A magic system built on physics
Lewis described the project as an "epic fantasy" spanning three trilogies set across different eras in the same universe, with themes of power, agency, tyranny and redemption. He told Just Jared the magic system is rooted in physics rather than the "soft magic of casting spells."
Rather than starting with book one, Lewis is releasing the seventh installment first. "I chose to start at the end," he explained. He is currently on his fourth draft of that book.
A 4 a.m. writing routine by the ocean
The actor told outlets his Costa Rica routine begins at 4 a.m. with a workout, followed by 1,000 to 2,000 words of writing each day. Surfing and learning Spanish fill out his life there, per coverage from Variety and other outlets, with most reports leaning on the AOL syndication of the original interview.
From Smith Jerrod to debut novelist
Lewis last appeared on screen three years before this announcement, and he has not joined Cattrall, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon or Kristin Davis in the Sex and the City revival And Just Like That. The pivot from acting to long-form fantasy publishing puts him in the same lane as other late-career creative reinventions, though the scope of nine novels is unusually ambitious for a debut author.
No publisher or release date for book seven has been announced.
